Hi, I want to use an SRS (Anki) for my acupuncture school studies but have a few questions about how to best formulate my cards as most of the stuff I need to memorize has a lot of related facts per "item" of study.

I've read that each SRS card should have one Q with only one possible answer (1Q:1A) but I'm not sure this makes sense for my field.


What I want to know is:

Can I test multiple pieces of data on each card (1 broad Q:A1-2-3-4-5...) even though it means I'll review certain aspects of data more often than necessary?


For example:
Chinese medicine looks at patterns of disharmony rather than specific diseases.

One such pattern is TYaC.
For the TYaC pattern I need to memorize the Qi pathways associated with it, where in the body it hits, what the key symptoms are (which could be 10-20 or more), what the pulse is and what the tongue looks like.

Usually these various aspects make a supportive whole--for example, the pulse + tongue make sense given the symptoms (and vice-versa) as well as where the disharmony hits the body the hardest, etc.

It will make card-making easier to test all related info in the answer section at once (as there is a boatload of stuff to learn). And it seems to make sense to test 1 broad Q:A1-2-3-4-5... because I'll be recalling various aspects of the TYaC pattern just to answer any one specific question anyway.

BUT if I test each card for ALL of the info in the answer section I will probably get some of the info right but not all of it. It will make determining when to pass a card and at what level trickier. Also, when the question comes up again I'll see the data I got right on it sooner than necessary. So I'm still uncertain as to what is the best way to SRS this data.


Has anyone else used an SRS to memorize things with a lot of related parts, and if so what worked best for you in terms of formulating Qs & As?

Is it best to SRS-test things in one-fact bites (1Q:1A) even for this kind of data?

Thanks for your help and suggestions.

I think this article should help you on the long term....
it's about formulating questions when you use a SRS :
http://www.supermemo.com/articles/20rules.htm

I suggest you to take a close look on principe 4 minimum information principle & 9 avoid set : cause it clearly goes against a multiple answer....
stick to something simple . ... anyway eventually when you know your datas by heart you'll be able to put everything together in your head .

so for instance
Q1 : A1 expected
Q2 : same question but with "A2 expected " in bold character
and so on

Thanks for your very helpful reply, ghinzdra.

Yeah, it makes sense to go with the minimum info principle.
I will do it from now on.

As for my current card deck...

What is the best way to edit (split) my existing "Broad Q: A1-2-3..." Anki cards into 1Q:1A type cards?

Is there a way to copy an (existing) card so that I can delete everything except for Q1:A1, save this as a new card, and then repeat process with the original multi-Answer card until it has been split into several 1Q:1A cards?

Anyone know if this can be done and how to do it?

Thanks!

If you have a "One-to-Many" relation, like, say, hand to fingers, you should be able to reverse the problem for One-to-one:

Q1: What is on the end of my hand?
A1: A thumb, a finger, a long finger, a ring finger, and a little finger

This card might be useful for memorizing these things in a list, i guess... but the supermemo link is right. Let's try increasing the number and strength of relations.

Q2: Where is my thumb?
A2: On the end of my hand.
Q3: Where is my finger?
A3: On the end of my hand.
Q4: Where is my long finger?
A4: On the end of my hand.
Q5: Where is my ring finger?
A5: On the end of my hand.
Q6: Where is my little finger?
A6: On the end of my hand.

I think you would do best to worry about it as little as possible. If I really needed to know this stuff, I might have all 6 of these cards in my anki. My goal only to remember what I've learned. The learning takes place outside of anki. Once it's learned, it should be simple enough to rephrase it and chop it up into delightful little bits.

chully, thanks for more great examples.

Ghinzdra and you have convinced me of the benefit of learning things in large chunks but SRS-ing them into individual 1Q:1A chunks.

My problem now is that I have a deck of 150+ cards that needs to be broken up into 5 different cards on average. I'm a newbie to Anki so I don't know how to do this -- I mean technically.

Is there a 'Copy Card' button (or something) that I can use to copy existing cards and then delete all but the pertinent info and save as new card (without deleting the old one) until I get all of those pesky bits of info separated onto different cards?

**edit - Gee, maybe I should have looked at Ghinzdra's link before posting. That link covered it better.

To make it useful for Paragraph and Series of Steps answers, break them up into sentences or steps. Let the question be the sentences in the Paragraph leading up to the sentence, or the steps in the series leading up to the step in question.

Q: In the Gettysburg Address What 14 word sentence follows - Four Score and Seven years ago, our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation.
A: Conceived in liberty and dedicated to the principle that all men are created equal.

Q: What follows ....our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation. Conceived in liberty and dedicated to the principle that all men are created equal ---
A: etc., etc.

Similar with steps. You don't have to list the entire thing, just the two or three parts leading upto the step or sentence in question. Now, I never did the above, but it was something I was thinking about when it came to my job and it's various qualification programs. These required rote memorization of paragraph answers (Mission Statements, ugh).

PS: I may have quoted the Address above wrong, don't ping me on it. I'm too lazy to google right now.